Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Harry Potter.

Chapter 10

Ariana awoke the next morning to the sound of breathing that wasn't her own. It was light and delicate, like the gentle rubbing and rustling of fabric from a gossamer gown.

Her eyes blearily opened in pitch blackness and she dazedly pushed herself up into a sitting position, automatically tensing up at the unfamiliar situation as the desynchronized chorus of soft snores sent off warning bells in her head. After a second of utter confusion, she realized where she was and let out a sigh while slumping back down onto her warm pillow in slight relief.

Knowing that she couldn't get back to sleep, she reluctantly threw off her deliciously warm duvet and drew back her bed curtains ever so slightly, peeking out in trepidation into the inky blackness as her eyes slowly dilated and adjusted to her surroundings.

Eyes roved over the other sleeping figures and were assured that everyone else was still sound asleep. Drawing up her curtains around her bed, she pulled out her wand from under her pillow and furtively looked around before casting a relatively advanced spell for her age.

"Tempus."

A quiet whisper breathed to life fiery red numbers that danced and floated in the air, signalling that it was five in the early hours of the morning.

A little earlier than when I usually wake up… but at least I have more time for my routine.

After a muffled yawn and a languid stretch, she crept out of her bed over to her trunk that lay propped up against a stone wall beside her, glad that her bed was the first in the semi-circle layout and was nearest to the door that exited the room.

Gathering up her necessities, she glanced back one more time towards the sleeping occupants before slipping out of the room in complete silence.

The castle was deathly still as she padded her way to the seventh floor, sticking to the shadows as she tried to stay out of sight of even the slumbering portraits that housed the walls of Hogwarts.

Once arriving to her destination, she paced back and forth quickly in front of a nondescript wall three times over as she repeated only one sentence in her mind.

I need a place where I can become a master of magic.

She looked up after the third time and gave a triumphant smirk as a glossy black door which led to the Room of Requirement appeared. It was adorned with the symbol of two giant snakes were entwined and fighting each other; one was shimmering white while the other was blood red, both of them sinking their long fangs into the other.

"I keep forgetting how creepy this door looks like… especially in the dark," Ariana muttered to herself as she pushed opened the doors, a sense of foreboding causing her to shiver slightly.

A high hall greeted her with walls that were so deathly black that it seemed to drown out the natural darkness of the morning itself. Candles that floated lazily in the air above her shone upon old wooden bookshelves that defined the room, stretching upwards for meters on end as they were decorated with ancient books and manuscripts.

Ariana immediately shut the door behind her and made her way through the grand room, her footsteps echoing as she approached a greying desk that had books scattered across on its surface. She sat down on a waiting chair and flipped opened some of the books in familiarly and skimmed over the others in mild interest.

"Let's see here… already finished that book on how to bind dark curses to physical objects…" she murmured, flipping through books one after the other and deciding which one she should read next. "Ah, this one looks interesting… The Art of Internal Destruction."

She plopped herself down, still clad in her dark blue pyjamas as she opened the book to its first page with hands snugly supporting her cheeks, soon lost in the pursuit of knowledge. It would have made an adorable sight if one were to not glance upon the contents of the book.

Ariana kept a careful eye on the time and every now and then cast the spell that informed her of it. She was becoming more methodical and calculating; no more was she the lazy and unmotivated schoolchild.

Deciding after an hour that it was time for the practical part of her session, she sat up straight and turned the pages back to a particular one as her brain memorized a single spell.

She then stood up and stripped off her pyjamas, only to then clothe herself with a strange leather attire alongside some complementary dragon hide armour which she had found whilst exploring the great room.

"It is fortunate that magically shrinking an object is not a hard feat," she said to herself with visible admiration as she looked down at her small body that donned the new apparel.

She pushed recent memories out of her mind in slight regret and her eyes hardened as she readied her wand.

I'm sorry Fawkes… but to fight against avid users of Dark Magic, I need to understand them fully myself.

I need to be familiar with the subtle flavours of magic so I can recognize them instantly on the battlefield… just as Albus taught me.

She turned towards the end of the room, where dummies that were made of straw that had seemingly been here for centuries that had been designed for practice had visible signs of wear and tear on their magically strengthened frames.

Normally she would have been vehemently protested against what she was currently doing, but the gravity of the situation had forced her to do the unthinkable… to perform dark spells.

Ariana closed her eyes as she visualized the wand motions and intent in her mind. Such a thing came naturally to her now, as if she had been casting spells of a dark nature all her life. A resounding shout broke the silence.

"Invorto!"

A slight thrill went through her as a dark purple spell burst out from the tip of her wand and flew across the room to slam into one of the dummies. The spell that was designed to transfer whatever lay inside of an object to its exterior produced a morbid display as straw pushed itself out from the centre of the already deformed figure of the dummy and tumble to the floor.

She then suddenly leapt to the side and begun casting a flurry of new spells that she had recently learned over the past few weeks, displaying a myriad of colours as she twirled around the room in an elegant and deadly dance.

She paused after a few minutes of weaving spells and dropped her wand down to her side, panting hard as she eyed the destruction that had been laid waste to the other side of the room with some satisfaction. She took a deep breath and begun the dance once again, but this time thinking of what all that had happened the day before as well.

What could have made Albus change his mind about me? He was the master strategist that put our plan forward in motion. He has even planned what to do with the first generation of Death Eaters… with Lucius and his ilk.

Why risk everything?

She stood still and paused temporarily as her brain was wracked with a wave of thoughts.

I do recall that he mentioned something about a childhood.

She let out a short bark of harsh laughter and she bitterly shook her head.

"Harry or Ariana James Potter … whoever I am now, has and will never achieve happiness. I know where my path lies… I am just a tool to defeat Voldemort – nothing more," she growled as she raised her wand towards the dummies once again.

Dark thoughts clouded her mind, making her viciously cast more deadly and more explosive curses with each passing second. A pillar of fiery smoke and dust, still boiling up from where a spell had landed, created a slight vacuum effect as it sucked nearby books into its core. A series of new flashes then made bookshelves violently explode outwards with noise reverberating around the room as a thunder clap.

One final burst of magic caused Ariana to be blown backwards and knocked off her feet onto the floor, finally stopping her rampaging onslaught.

She laid eagle spread on the floor; skin blackened with soot and ash as the room around her held itself together by a thread. She gave a painful chuckle as the haze on her brain slowly cleared; the unhealthy thoughts that ate away at her mind gradually leaving one at a time.

"I will never be truly happy. I mean... these new people who are my 'parents' are just physical copies of people I once knew. Their love for me could never be replicated," she whispered to herself.

"But for the happiness of others… I will gladly sacrifice my own," she continued as she stared at the ceiling, warmth blossoming in her chest at the thought of saving everyone that was once lost.

She then stood up shakily and mumbled a quick healing spell, of which took care of her minor injuries and the large welt on her left wrist. She casually casted a quick Tempus spell and yelped at the time it showed.

I hope that no one is still up at 6:30. It's an hour until breakfast… and I would prefer to shower without disturbances.

Quickly stripping out of her battle gear and back into her pyjamas, she gathered the stuff that she had brought to her training and hastily made for the door, but not before tripping over a book seemed to spring out of nowhere.

Grumbling in annoyance, she picked herself up and grabbed the offending book and made a throwing motion as she prepared to hurl it across the room. Just as she was about to, the title of the book flashed briefly in her line and sight and caused her to gasp loudly.

Mastery of Multivariate Parselmagic.

Everything then clicked into place as memories and scenes created an intricate link that seemed to visualize in her cerebral cortex.

"Basilisk venom destroys Horcruxes! How could I have been so stupid to forget that moment in the Chamber of Secrets?" she groaned in vexation, banging her head against a nearby shelf as she realized that all that time when she had been researching on ways to destroy them was all for nothing, as the answer had been under her nose the entire time.

Carefully stowing the prized book away in her heap of clothes of which she had gathered up once more, she then performed a spell that cleared all hints of dark magic from her wand, as well as a Notice-Me-Not charm on herself and left hastily to leave behind a part of her studies no one else, not even Albus, knew about.

As she exited past the doors back into the seventh floor, she passed by the same symbol of the snakes that were coiled around each other etched on the door and could have sworn that the albino snake had its fangs just a little bit deeper into the other.

A few students dotted the corridors here and there but for the most part Ariana had avoided all contact with other beings on her journey back to the Gryffindor dormitory. She sneaked past everyone in the slightly brighter light of the morning, most of it thanks to her charms that she had placed on herself, and tip-toed back to the girl's dorm.

Peeking in, she breathed a sigh of relief as the other figures were still unmoving and seemingly sound asleep in their beds. She gently pushed the door open and crept through, wincing at the slight creek that was produced from the action as she gathered up her toiletries and robes from her trunk and hastily exited the room to head to the bathroom.

She immediately locked the bathroom after entering it and undressed in front of the large mirror above the sink in a mechanical habit. She unconsciously traced the remnants of scars across her bare chest as her black hair flowed around her, green eyes following fingers that moved across lines that had once defiled her body in more than one manner.

This… this is physical proof of my previous life.

Proof that Mom and Dad are out there somewhere… hopefully looking down at me.

She raised her hand and gathered her hair to the side of her brow, looking at the much fainter lightning bolt scar that had desecrated her forehead.

This however, is the proof of all my pain and sorrows.

All off a sudden, she felt vulnerable and oddly ashamed of the scars on her body as she stood exposed in front of the mirror. Giving a heaving sigh, she turned around and stepped into the shower stall, turning on the knob and letting the hot water pound down on her head to massage all her worries away.

Making sure that her shower was quick, she changed into her robes and quickly grabbed the book on Parselmagic on which she had recently obtained and headed down towards the black lake, where she planned to have a good introductory read while waiting for breakfast to start.

Warm morning air greeted her as the rays of the sun breathed life once more into the world, causing dew on cobwebs and flora to speckle and shine at every angle. Ariana smiled slightly at the pleasing view and headed down to a spot that she had been frequenting for the past few weeks when she was not in her room.

Arriving to the base of a gargantuan oak tree, she plopped herself down on the dry ground in the sun and crossed her legs as she heaved the large book onto her lap and opened it up to the first page in anticipation.

Dear Reader, if you are reading this manuscript, then you must possess the noble art of Parseltongue. This tome deals the both the destructive and curative aspects of the ancient language of the serpents. Why multivariate magic you may ask? This is because this unique type of magic is capable of both elements in a single spell. Now to begin…

Ariana sat utterly spellbound as she devoured the first chapter, its yellowing and fragile pages describing how Parselmagic could seal up and heal grievous wounds with a sinuous wand-like movement, but at the same time some cost of some pain and injury to the caster.

After a few minutes, she looked up and realized that the castle was finally starting to show signs of life in the growing hours of the dawn. She spied a group of excited and intrepid first-years that were on the far end of the black lake that were eager to explore the outskirts of the castle before breakfast began.

She also laid her eyes upon the thickening crowd of older students that pushed and shoved their way past each other through corridors and hallways, all these events signalling that it was time to tear herself away from her new book, making her quell with some effort the irresistible urge to continue reading.

She then stood up, wandlessly muttering a cleaning charm that smoothened out her robes and banished loose dirt and broken twigs off her body. The folded book was carefully and lovingly tucked away into the folds of her robes as she marched up back towards the castle, her stomach rumbling in hunger as her morning training had worked up a voracious appetite.

She entered the lively Great Hall and approached the far end of the breakfast table, ignoring all the bustle and hustle around her as she sat down and poured cereal into a bowl that magically appeared in front of her. Just as she was about to tuck in to the crunch of oatmeal, a familiar voice spoke out behind her.

"Kiddo, you owe me an explanation."

She froze and let go of her spoon, causing it to clatter in her bowl as she whirled around to face the speaker.

James Charlus Potter stood by himself and grinned at her flushed countenance, continuing speaking with his arms folded across his chest. "I didn't see you aboard the Hogwarts Expresses, and I assure you, I had checked every carriage," he mock-interrogated as he raised one eyebrow at the now smirking young girl.

Ariana widened her sparkling eyes and jerked her head towards where Albus was sitting and then pointed in the general direction of her new room in an attempt to elucidate the situation without words.

James looked downwards towards the floor as a memory flooded back, his fists tightening in balls at it flooded his mind.

It was late into the night after James and his parents had got back from their shopping spree and their encounter with Dumbledore and his loveable companion. James yawned loudly and turned to the strangely tight faces of his parents.

"Goodnight everyone, I'm off to a quick shower and bed," James lethargically spoke and he trudged up the stairs to his quarters, acknowledging his parents calls that bid him good night in return.

Realizing that he had forgotten some clothes down below, he made his way back down but stopped short in the middle of the staircase as he heard the hush and murmur of whispers emanating from the dining hall.

"…-lbus has been my close friend for over thirty years; I should know him better than anyone else."

James stilled and crept closer towards the source of these sayings and pressed his ear against the door in slight curiosity.

"Albus of his own hinted that her family had been killed by Death Eaters or something like that by his mannerisms during lunch today," Charlus muttered to his wife.

"And when I asked whether anything happened to the poor girl herself, his eyes turned black as night and I know even though he didn't say anything… something terrible was done to that innocent child."

As Dorea murmured in agreement, James pulled away from the wall and silently slinked back up to his room with a pale face.

"How… how could anyone do that to such a person?" James whispered out loud as he remembered her joyful smile and enchanting attitude.

James broke out of his mindscape and raised his eyes the awaiting young girl. "Of course, I-I had forgotten about that…," he stammered, unwittingly alluding that he had knowledge that few should have.

A tilted head and a gentle gaze created a huge burst of protectiveness that inundated his soul, neither of them realizing that they considered the other to be the bravest person they had ever met.

Just as James was about to continue, Ariana spotted Amelia out of the corner of her eye entering with the other Gryffindor first-year girls to have their breakfast.

She blanched and realized that she it was of paramount importance that these two groups would never interact as one knew that she could speak while the other didn't. She silently cursed her rash decision to acquaint herself with her housemates as it made things so much more complicated.

Abandoning her meal even thought she was ravenous, she slowly rose to her feet and placed herself out of the line of sight from the approaching Amelia and was about to bolt but not before a hand descended on her should, causing her to jump slightly from the contact.

Professor McGonagall looked on curiously at the display but not before handing Ariana a slip of paper. "Ariana, this is your timetable for this year. My transfiguration class is first up this morning so I suggest a good breakfast would be in order," she gently suggested as she had noticed the uneaten bowl of food still on the table.

Ariana knew now was the perfect opportunity as James had started conversing with a much sterner Minerva as Amelia started closing in onto her location.

She started moving and begun to sidestep around the flow of students while evading all line of sights as she exited through the high wooden doors. She breathed a huge sigh of relief after turning a few corners as she leaned against the wall of a slightly empty corridor and decided that a trip to the kitchens would be the best course of action now breakfast was compromised.

Is it going to be like this every day?...

She shook her head wearily and set off to find her favourite house-elf in the kitchens, hoping that there would enough cream puffs to lift up her mood.

The hours ticked by and Ariana soon made her way to Professor McGonagall's class to learn basic and mundane spells and charms for the second time in her life. She entered and noticed that it was almost time for the lesson as most of the paired desks were full.

Opting to sit at the back of the class to avoid attention, she strode over to a desk to where a young boy donned with the robes that represented Ravenclaw was sitting patiently by himself for the transfiguration teacher to arrive.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?" Ariana politely asked with a tilted head when she reached him and caught his attention.

"N-not at all," the Ravenclaw boy stammered as his complexion took on a light shade red.

Ariana raised an eyebrow in curiosity at the peculiar mannerism and sat herself down beside him. Deciding to at least introduce herself, she turned back to him and continued on, "Hello, my name is Ariana Peverell. May I have the pleasure of knowing yours?" she asked in a refined manner, extending her petite hand forwards.

The boy's face was now fully flushed as he took her hand in his to shake, "H-hey, I'm Elias Goldstein," he replied, seemingly unable to look her straight in the eyes during their conversation.

Ariana frowned internally and wondered what she was doing wrong to illicit such a strange reaction from him. She was about to ask whether everything was alright but not before McGonagall burst through the doors, the banging noise making the excitedly chattering students turn their heads towards the noise and cease their talking abruptly.

Ariana tuned everything out in slight exasperation and boredom as the elementary laws of transfiguration were explained to the class by the stern-lipped Professor. Her mind was soon adrift in daydreams as she thought of only one thing recently – how to duel a user of dark magic and win.

She knew the pathetic spells casted by most people on the side of justice only consisted stunning and binding spells. To her, this was simply not enough; a simple shield charm could deflect all of said spells. No… she needed to be much stronger and versatile than the Aurors and the other members of the Order in her previous life.

She bitterly realized that the reason why the light side was always losing in the future was the fact that they did not dare to use dark or grey magic for fear of being branded as a dark magic user. Her ruminations were interrupted when she heard a strict voice call out her name, causing her to start slightly.

"Miss Peverell, is my class boring you that much? In that case, please demonstrate how to transfigure your match into a needle," Professor McGonagall called out, slight disappointment veiling her voice.

Ariana refocused her eyes and looked down at her table, and true enough, someone had placed a matchstick on her desk in front of her while she was lost in thought.

With the every eye in the room looking at her, she raised her black wand and lazily flicked it as she channelled all the boredom that she had been afflicted with. The wooden match shimmered and glowed white for a brief second, only to then change perfectly into a shiny needle.

Minerva nodded in approval and smiled at the expert display of magic from the young prodigy. She had already seen Ariana casting slightly advanced magic during her stay in Hogwarts and assumed that Albus had taken her under his wing.

"Perfectly done, now I think it will benefit the class more if you assisted those which need help with the wand movements," she instructed as she turned her attention back to a struggling Gryffindor first-year.

Ariana forced a smile onto her face and she got up reluctantly, only to realise that Elias beside her, who was also capable of completing Professor McGonagall's task, had been trying to show off and garner her attention the entire time.

Too annoyed to care, she spent the rest of the lesson strolling around the room offering tips and strings of advice to the students which needed help. After the lesson ended she slinked out of the room and decided to spend all her free time in the restricted part of the library, a boon that was provided by Albus to access the books she needed.

As she stayed in the shadows, she spotted Amelia and the rest of her housemates emerging from a doorway nearby and overheard their loud conversation.

"Did you see the looks she gave us? It was like we weren't worth her time or something. A right princess that one is," a brown haired girl snorted.

As most of the group agreeing in a similar fashion, Amelia immediately jumped to the particular subject's defence, "I'm sure she did not mean that. Ariana has a very kind and gentle soul," she protested as she tried to quell the unrest.

Ariana decided that she had heard enough and slipped away, memories flooding back of her very early encounters with Hermione and Ron.

Although she was used to people bickering and gossiping behind her back, she felt slightly hurt and decided that she would have to act a little more interested in the eyes of other students and professor to not attract any more attention.

The rest of the day dragged by, as she put on a constant act of rapt attention and interest throughout all the other classes. Thoroughly exhausted by end of her final class for the day, she made straight for one place to solve the one problem crucial immediately.

She leapt up the winding staircase after the gargoyle had let her through to Albus's office and burst through the doors without knocking once she reached the door.

Ariana's foul mood dissipated as she grinned madly at the startled and curious look at an old and wizened man sitting at his desk produced, her eyes glinting with the promise of a hunt.

"Albus, tonight we hunt basilisk."